Quick Start Tutorials > 5. Working with transactions

In this topic:

ManagePLUS neither creates nor alters QuickBooks transactions, but it needs a copy of them to prepare reports. Actually it doesn't need all of your transactions, just the ones for the active accounting period.

ManagePLUS refreshes (updates) its copy of transactions from QuickBooks whenever you tell it to, something you may normally do before creating reports, especially if you think some transactions may have been changed in QuickBooks.

This tutorial tells how to open the Transactions window, refresh transactions, and how to find and fix quantity errors in new transactions.

Opening the Transactions window:

To open the Transactions window or to select it if the window is already open:

•	Click the Trans' (Transactions) button in the toolbar, or choose Lists > Transactions from the main menu.

The window will open in a new tab. Or if it is already open, its tab will be selected.

If you added a new accounting period in step 2 of these tutorials, ManagePLUS may have notified you that it had no transactions for the new period and asked to refresh them from QuickBooks. If you answered "No" to that prompt the Transactions window may be empty when you open it. If so, follow the steps in the Refreshing transactions subtopic below to retrieve transactions from QuickBooks.

Refreshing transactions:

ManagePLUS refreshes transactions from QuickBooks in one month "chunks". To save time ManagePLUS lets you choose which months' transactions to refresh. Often you will only need to refresh transactions for the most recent month or so, to get all of the transactions which may have changed.

Here's how refreshing works:

1.	Click the Refresh button in the Transactions window.

The Transactions to Refresh dialog will open.

2.	Choose the transaction months to refresh. If only recent transactions have changed, you may want to refresh only those months.

3.	Click OK. ManagePLUS will connect with QuickBooks, refresh transactions for the months you selected, and update the Transactions window.

Viewing transactions with quantity errors:

ManagePLUS supports having two quantities in QuickBooks transactions, by letting you enter quantity information in the Memo or Description field of a transaction. ManagePLUS extracts the quantity information when transactions are refreshed from QuickBooks, and if it has not been entered correctly the transaction is flagged as having a quantity error.

Entering quantities in the Memo or Description field of transactions is easy, but not all ManagePLUS users need that capability. So we have kept the details out of this tutorial. (You will find them in the topic Quantities in the Memo/Description field.)

Quantity errors can appear to be present even if you don't intend to put quantities in the Memo or Description field of your transactions, so you need to understand a bit about them.

Noticing when quantity errors exist

If an Errors button appears on the Transaction window's toolbar, it means one or more transactions in the list appears to have a quantity error.

Viewing quantity errors

To view transactions with quantity errors:

•	Click on the Errors button in the Transactions window.

The window switches to showing only transactions with quantity errors.

•	The Memo field is highlighted in yellow.

•	Extra rows provide clues about each transaction's error.

Fixing quantity errors in transactions:

Figuring out quantity errors requires knowing a bit about how ManagePLUS wants you to enter quantities in in the Memo or Description field of transactions. The details are beyond the scope of this tutorial, but the basics are simple enough.

To enter a quantity in the Memo or Description field of a transaction:

•	Type it at the beginning of the field.

•	Separate it from other text in the field by following it with at least one blank space.

•	Only use digits (0..9) and mathematical symbols.

•	You may enter the quantity as a mathematical formula if you wish.

These basic rules should give you ideas about what's wrong in the example transactions above:

300# clover seed

The error message tells us will we need to know: the "#" symbol is an unknown math operator (ManagePLUS does not understand what it means).
Solution: There needs to be a space between the quantity "300" and the"#" symbol.

25calf tags

The error message for this one is a bit misleading, but it's easy to see what is wrong: ManagePLUS cannot understand "25calf" as a quantity.
Solution: There needs to be a space between the quantity "25" and the word "calf"

2x4s

This memo wasn't meant to be a quantity at all; just as a description of the transaction. (In case the term is unfamiliar to you, "2x4" describes a common lumber dimension.) Because it began with the numeral "2", ManagePLUS thought this description was intended as a mathematical formula. But since the letter "s" has no place in a mathematical formula, ManagePLUS is complaining about it.
Solution: Type a space ahead of the phrase "2x4s" to keep ManagePLUS from considering it as quantity information.

To fix the errors...

1.	In QuickBooks, locate one of the transactions which needs to be changed.

2.	Edit the transaction, making the necessary changes.

3.	Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each transaction which has quantity errors.

4.	Refresh transactions in ManagePLUS.

5.	Check for errors again.

If the Errors button is present in the Transactions window, some transactions still have quantity errors, so repeat the process of viewing transactions with errors, figuring out the errors, and fixing them.

What if I don't want to fix quantity errors in all my transactions?

No problem. When ManagePLUS creates reports it will simply assume quantities are 0 (zero) in those transactions. But it follows then, that at least some of the quantity-related information on those reports may be inaccurate.